Call to downgrade University Hospital Limerick if new hospital built

MAYOR John Moran has suggested University Hospital Limerick (UHL) should be downgraded if a brand new state-of-the-art hospital is built in its vicinity.

UHL is the only model four hospital in the region - but Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has talked up the possibility of a new hospital on land acquired for €14m by the health service in Raheen also having the top categorisation.

She said it’s “not impossible” for two model four hospitals to be within a short distance of each other.

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If that happens, then Mayor Moran says he thinks UHL should go from model four to model three.

“Rather than try and make a really good efficient hospital out of a building which is a rag-tag of other buildings which does not work well, you would build your model four hospital and allow UHL to be downgraded to a model three,” said the mayor.

He insisted that any downgrade would only take place once a new facility opens.

In simple terms, a model three hospital provides general acute care, while a model four hospital provides the highest level of acute care with more specialised services, and acts as a referral centre for complex cases.

Both facilities have emergency departments.

The HIQA report recommended Limerick have both a model four and model three hospital.

But Ms MacNeill went further in Limerick last week, saying she’s “open to everything” and has “a blank page” when it comes to the future of health locally.

Mayor Moran has praised the swiftness that the HSE has acted in this case, and said Limerick can be an example of how to get projects done quickly.

He met the health service’s regional executive officer Sandra Broderick just weeks after being elected in June 2024.

“The HSE were very good. They moved quickly. They identified the site, a couple of Government agencies were looking at the site too, but they agreed to step back.

“They had the site pretty much ready when the HIQA report came out,” the mayor added.

The directly elected mayor said council is “ready to go” with a pre-planning meeting.

He praised the HSE for the progress it’s made on its surgical hub on the site of the former Scoil Carmel at O’Connell Avenue in the city.

Building there is well under way, after permission was granted last year.